Acapella Entertainment books live music, DJs, and talent for venues, weddings, and corporate events across the Kansas City metro. Every booking sheet shows the client fee, our commission, and the artist payout as three separate numbers, sent to both sides.
A client is quoted $2,400 for a four-piece. The band is offered $1,700. Both accept, neither sees the other number, and the agency keeps a spread that may be 15% or may be 40% depending on how the negotiation went and how badly the band needed the date.
The spread is the business model, and opacity is what protects it. An artist who does not know the client rate cannot tell whether they are being represented or arbitraged, and a client who does not know the payout cannot tell whether their money is reaching the stage.
So every booking sheet we issue shows three numbers to both parties: client fee, our commission, artist payout. Our commission is 15% and it is on this page. We have lost artists to agencies offering a better-sounding gross and no disclosure, which is a trade we keep making.
An illustrative booking. The same sheet goes to the client and to the artist.
Eighty artists on the roster. Commission published, payouts in seven days.
Bands and solo artists for venues, weddings, and private events.
DJs with published equipment lists and a written set structure.
Talent for conferences, openings, and company events, with contracts in your name.
Recurring bookings for bars, restaurants, and clubs on a season calendar.
Representation with a published 15% commission and seven-day payouts.
Sound, lighting, and stage logistics coordinated with the venue in advance.
Our commission is 15% and it is on this page. The same booking sheet goes to both sides showing all three numbers. We have lost artists to agencies quoting a better-sounding gross with no disclosure.
Artists are paid within seven days of the performance, not thirty. We carry that timing risk rather than passing it to people who played the gig.
We will tell an artist to book direct. When a client is a repeat relationship and we are adding nothing, taking a commission is just a tax on both sides.
Date, venue, budget, and what the event actually needs to feel like.
Three to five artists with real availability, not a catalogue.
Booking sheet with all three numbers, sent to client and artist together.
Load-in, sound check, and set structure coordinated with the venue.
Wedding couples, private hosts, corporate event teams, bars, restaurants, and festivals across Kansas City, Overland Park, Lee's Summit, and St. Joseph.
Bookings from about $600 for a solo artist to $18,000 for a full production, with the 15% commission shown on every sheet.
We turn down bookings we cannot staff properly. A date with no suitable artist available gets a referral to another agency rather than a compromise nobody will enjoy.
Started the agency in 2015 after eight years playing the same rooms. Set the disclosure policy.
Eleven years. Sends the same sheet to both sides, every time.
Nine years. Tells artists when to book direct.
Ten years. Finds the curfew nobody mentioned.
I saw the client rate for the first time in twelve years of gigging. Fifteen percent, on paper, both sides.
Paid seven days after the show. Every other agency I have worked with was thirty at best.
They told me the band I wanted books direct for repeat clients and I would save the commission. They booked me someone else.
On our sheets, both sides see all three numbers.